


Lions and Snakes

by mysid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts Houses, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:09:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8886883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysid/pseuds/mysid
Summary: James and Sirius have long been friends, and they don't agree with their new housemates that their friendship should end simply because they were sorted into different houses.  (Written pre-OotP, so non-compliant with later canon.)





	1. Potions and Trains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All belongs to JK Rowling: I'm just playing with them.
> 
> I tend to think that MWPP were all Gryffindors, but I read a very good story in which Sirius was a Slytherin, _Feuds_ by Morgan D. In that story, James and Sirius had been friends before Hogwarts and continued to be friends even in the face of house pressure. The story only had James and Sirius in it (plus Severus lingering on the sidelines). I started wondering how, in a situation like that, James and Sirius became friends with Remus and Peter, and that led to this story.

James scowled as he passed through the common room toward the dormitory stairs. Students were gathered at tables, doing their homework with their friends. Others were gathered in the comfortable sofas and armchairs, playing games with or talking with their friends. _“But if I want to study with my friend, I have to go to the library. And if we just want to hang out together, we have nowhere to go. Stupid bloody hat!”_

James slammed open the first-year boys’ dormitory door without specifically intending to. The sole occupant of the room was crouched in front of a trunk but jumped up and whirled around at the sound of the door hitting the wall. His eyes were wide as he took an instinctive step backward and nearly fell into his own open trunk. 

“Sorry, Remus. I just—I didn’t know you were back already.” James stalked over to his own trunk to gather what he needed to study with Sirius. As he passed Remus, he saw him visibly relax upon hearing that James’s anger wasn’t directed toward him.

“I just got back.”

“How’s your mum?” James asked over his shoulder as he sorted through his books and packed a few into his bookbag. “That’s who you went home to see, isn’t it?”

“She’s feeling better, thanks.”

James was about to leave the room again when it occurred to him to ask if Remus needed his class notes from Friday. Remus wasn’t exactly someone who James would call a friend. Remus had remained distant when James had attempted to be friendly at the beginning of the year, but he seemed to be like that with everyone. He kept everyone at arm’s length, so James knew not to take it personally. _“If I don’t offer Remus my notes, who will?”_ “If you want to borrow my notes from Friday, you can.”

Remus hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. “I’d appreciate that.”

James went back to his trunk to find the correct notebooks. “I need Potions right now, but you can have Transfiguration and History of Magic.” He piled the notebooks on the foot of his bed as he spoke, opening his Transfiguration notebook to tear out the cartoon he had drawn of Filch with both Mrs. Norris and a feline McGonagall in his lap. “Oh, you might need me to explain some of this. My notes are pretty complete, but I tend to use quite a few abbreviations and symbols. You can copy it now and I’ll translate when I get back from the library, or you can come with me if you want.”

Remus came closer and looked at the open notebook. He saw that it did indeed contain some of James’s personal shorthand and curving arrows. “Whichever you prefer. I don’t want to be a bother.”

James stood again and slung his bookbag over his shoulder. “You’ll probably be better off if I explain as you go, so you really should come with me. But I’m warning you now, I’m meeting my friend Sirius, so if you don’t want to be seen in the company of the ‘evil Slytherin’ and the ‘traitorous Gryffindor,’ stay here.” James didn’t expect Remus to rise to the challenge. For three months, his friendship with Sirius had been fodder for mild teasing within his house, but over the last two days the mild teasing had increased to outright hostility. However, Remus had been absent for those two days.

“You don’t mind if I tag along?” Remus asked as he put both James’s notebooks and his own into his bookbag. 

James shook his head, and the two boys made their way down the short flight of stairs to the common room. Someone hissed like a snake as James and Remus passed by. The hissing increased and spread throughout the room. James just kept walking and pretended not to hear it. They were almost to the library before either one spoke.

“You’re probably wondering what that was about,” James said.

“A little bit,” Remus admitted. “It isn’t always that bad, is it?”

“No, it’s because of Potions class the day before yesterday. Actually, I can probably blame this mess on you.”

“Me? What did I do? I wasn’t even there.”

“Exactly.” James lowered his voice as they entered the library and fell under the watchful glare of the librarian, Madam Pince. “You know that Sirius and I are always partners when we have a practical lesson in Potions.”

Remus nodded. The fact that Sirius and James liked being partners was usually a good thing. Both Gryffindor and Slytherin had an odd number of first-years, and Professor Hathorne liked his students working in pairs. Sirius and James pairing up meant that no involuntary interhouse pairings were necessary.

“But you were absent, and Marcus and Matthew were paired up, and that left Peter without a partner. The other time you were absent from double Potions, Hathorne let Peter triple up with Marcus and Matthew. But this time, one of the Slytherins was absent, and Peter ended up paired with Severus Snape.”

“Oh.” 

James led the way to a small round table with four chairs. Remus took a seat on James’s left so he could put James’s notebook between them while he copied from it.

“And everyone was angry with me after class because they said that I should have partnered Peter instead of Sirius.”

“Peter should be thanking you,” Sirius said as he arrived and took the seat on James’s right. “Severus is much better at Potions than you are.” He stared at Remus as he sat down, as if daring him to leave because he was arriving. 

“I can’t see Peter being really angry,” Remus said with a puzzled look. “I’ve never seen him angry about anything.”

“No, but the girls were angry on his behalf,” James explained, “and at lunch, they spread the word about what happened, and then the upperclassmen got into it. I can’t even tell you how many of _them_ felt compelled to remind me that my first loyalty should be to my housemates.”

“And the fact that I’m in Slytherin didn’t even enter into it, I suppose,” Sirius said as unpacked his bag. Somehow he managed to make even the simple act of putting textbooks on the table an act of anger; the table quaked with every book thumping down on it. “Like they would have cared if this had happened in a class you share with Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff.”

“Oh, it entered into it all right,” James said frowning angrily. “They don’t even know you and—I actually got in a fistfight with Williamson.”

Remus looked up in surprise. “Really? He’s what—a fifth-year?”

“Sixth, but I didn’t say I won, or that it lasted long.”

“So much for that supposed Gryffindor tolerance,” Sirius noted wryly.

“Rule number one: Always expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed,” Remus said as he dipped his quill into his ink bottle and began copying from James’s Transfiguration notes.

“That’s awfully pessimistic,” James said. 

“It’s always worked for me,” Remus said with a shrug of his shoulders. He pointed his quill to a circled ‘F’ in James’s notebook. “What does this mean?”

“Focus—you know, what you need to be concentrating on while you do the spell.”

“And did your house react any better?” Remus asked without looking up at Sirius.

Sirius snorted. “No. Let’s just say that I’ve been threatened with every hex and torment imaginable if I continue to ‘embarrass house pride’ or ‘show misplaced loyalties.’ Severus was actually the one who cared the least. He said, ‘Pettigrew knows how to keep quiet and follow directions, which is all I ask of a partner in Potions.’”

Remus shook his head and looked up. “All this righteous indignation on Peter’s and Severus’s behalves, and those two didn’t even mind.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” James and Sirius said simultaneously and then laughed. James nodded at Sirius to indicate that he should go first.

“Severus did agree with everyone else that I should have worked with him, just on principle—but damn it! It’s the only class we have together. We should be able to work together if we want.” 

“What about Peter?” Remus asked James.

James lowered his voice to a whisper before answering. “I don’t know _what_ Snape said to him, but he was nearly in tears about halfway through class. He denied it after class and said everything was fine. Anyway, I promised Peter that I _won’t_ make him partner Snape again.”

“James!”

“I’m sorry, Sirius, but it’s not about us _being_ partners; it’s about them _not_ being partners. Besides, it was a private promise between Peter and me. I did NOT cave in to my so-called housemates in general.”

“Good, I’d hate to think that my supposedly ‘brave hearted’ Gryffindor friend was caving in at the first sign of trouble,” Sirius said as he opened his Potions text and searched for the right page. “Besides, how often are we going to have someone from your class _and_ someone from my class absent on the same day we have double Potions?” He stopped turning pages and looked at Remus. “Stay healthy, Lupin. What’s your first name again?”

“Remus.” Remus looked down as he answered. He pointed to a curving arrow in James’s notebook, and James noticed that Remus’s hand was shaking slightly. “Does this represent the wand movement?”

“Yeah, it’s like this,” James said as he demonstrated a few times. “Remus wasn’t sick; his mum was. He went home to visit her.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you could get out of school for that. She must be _really_ sick. OW!” The last was the result of James kicking him under the table.

“It’s kind of a chronic thing,” Remus mumbled. “It comes and goes.”

“Oh, sorry,” Sirius mumbled as he reached down to rub his shin. “Wait a second. This doesn’t make sense. Hathorne wants us to write about possible substitutes for Wolfsbane in Canine Poultice Potions and the how each substitution would effect the end result.”

“What’s the problem?” James asked as he too found the correct chapter of the textbook.

“The textbook doesn’t mention Wolfsbane in Canine Poultice Potions.”

“Maybe the text refers to it by another name,” Remus said as he glanced up quickly. “It’s also called Aconite and Monkshood.”

“Aconite,” James said as he skimmed the first page of the chapter. “Thanks, Remus.”

Remus nodded. “That’s probably the first and last time I’ll be of any help to you in Potions. Does this circle around all of this mean that it all has to be done simultaneously?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“And what’s this mean?”

“Challenge. McGonagall mentioned a related spell and said it was beyond the abilities of a first-year, so I’m determined to do it by the end of the year.”

“Not before me,” Sirius said with a grin.

“You’re on.”

* * * * *

When they had double Potions the following week, James found himself doing a quick head count of both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. Much to his relief, no one was missing. He looked over at Sirius and saw that he was doing the same. 

“All present and accounted for,” said a quiet voice near his ear. James looked over his shoulder at Remus and grinned. “But we could mix things up anyway.”

Before James could ask what Remus meant, the classroom door opened and the students began to file in. James watched in surprise as Remus went, not to his usual table, but to the table where Snape had just sat down. James and Sirius headed toward their usual table behind Snape, but remained standing.

“May I work with you today, Severus?” Remus asked. Snape gave Remus an analytical look, as if trying to determine his motives. “I know how to keep quiet and follow directions.” Snape turned and glared at Sirius for having repeated his words to the Gryffindors. Sirius just shrugged, picked up his books again, and went to Remus’s usual table.

“Mind if I work with you today, Pettigrew?” Sirius asked as he sat down. Peter turned and looked back at James imploringly.

James shrugged and sat down alone. _“I promised him he wouldn’t have to work with Snape; I didn’t say anything about Sirius.”_ James sensed someone hovering just behind him and correctly deduced that it was the Slytherin student left without a partner. “You might as well sit down,” he said as he turned to face Rosier. I’m the only partner left.” And he was. Remus, not having been expressly forbidden to do so, had already taken a seat next to Snape.

All in all, the class seemed to go rather well. Rosier and James managed to work together while having the bare minimum of conversation. Peter had eventually relaxed and was heard to laugh at some of Sirius’s jokes.

“Settle down, Mr. Pettigrew,” Professor Hathorne warned.

Judging by the stream of curses Snape uttered under his breath at one point, Remus seemed to have done something wrong to his and Snape’s potion. However, it must not have been anything too critical, for Hathorne gave their potion full marks at the end of class.

When class was over, James and Sirius lingered not far from the classroom door waiting for Remus. 

“Excellent foray into enemy territory, my dear Mr. Lupin,” Sirius said with a grin when Remus finally emerged. “I’d buy you lunch if I didn’t fear getting beaten to a pulp at your table, so instead I’ll let my esteemed colleague do it. I will, however, escort you both to the Great Hall.”

Remus shook his head with a slight smile. “You might want to do your friend Severus a favour and detour by your dormitory to get him a change of clothes.”

“What did you do, Remus?” James asked. He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

“It wasn’t _my_ fault, _really_. He got angry when I made a mistake and threatened to hex me. I warned him not to, but when Hathorne left the room at the end of class, he did.”

“He hexed you? Damn it,” Sirius started back toward the classroom, but Remus caught him by the elbow.

“I blocked it. Actually, I reversed it.”

“What kind of hex was it?” James asked with a smile.

Remus grinned back. “An enuresis hex.”

James shook his head, not understanding, but Sirius began to snicker. “You made him piss on himself?”

“He did it; I just reversed it.” James and Sirius both began to turn red as they tried not to laugh too loudly within Severus’s hearing. “I don’t think he and I should partner each other anymore.” 

“See you later,” James said as he pulled Remus toward the Great Hall, and Sirius headed back into the classroom to see whether or not his assistance would be welcome. They heard Sirius clear his throat in an attempt to compose himself before he re-entered the classroom.

“Would you do me a favour, James?” Remus asked as they climbed the stairs back to the ground floor.

“For the hero of the hour? Anything.”

“Don’t tell anyone about this. Snape will be really embarrassed if word of this gets—”

“So? It was his fault.”

“Yeah, but he’ll blame me, and the last thing I need in this school is an enemy.”

“But it was his fault!”

“Please?”

“Fine,” James said with a dramatic sigh. “I solemnly swear to tell no one—on two conditions.” Remus looked at him warily. “First, you _have_ to tell Peter.” Remus began to protest, but James held up a hand for silence. “You can swear him to secrecy if you want, but Snape threatened Peter with _something_ last week, and Peter deserves to hear that Snape got what was coming to him.”

“O.K., but only if Peter promises not to tell anyone else. And second?”

“You _have_ to teach me how you reversed that hex. That could prove very useful.”

* * * * *

After just one more class of double Potions—and everyone back with their customary partners—the Christmas holidays arrived. James and Sirius resolved to make another attempt to improve Gryffindor-Slytherin relations. They planned to sit together on the Hogwarts Express, and they each planned to try to bring one or two friends along with them. Of course, _try_ was the operative word. Sirius figured that Severus was actually his best bet, and James thought Remus and Peter were the most likely for him. Either way, it was a bad combination. Severus might scare off Peter, or Remus might scare off Severus. 

On Thursday night, Remus noticed that James was behaving strangely while they packed for tomorrow morning’s train. He had run his fingers through his hair so many times that it looked like a forest of black pine trees, and he cleared his throat at least three times while looking around the room at his four dorm mates, but always dove back into his trunk as if choosing which socks he brought home was actually a crucial decision. When Marcus and Matthew finished and started to head back toward the common room to join in the last-night-at-school festivities, James dropped the lid of his trunk with a loud thunk.

“Before you go,” James said, and Marcus and Matthew stopped to listen. “I was just wondering, on the Express tomorrow, I’m going to sit with my friend Sirius, but I’d really like to sit with some of you guys too.”

“Is he bringing some other Slytherins with him?” Matthew asked.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” James admitted. Marcus and Matthew looked at each other as if in silent discussion. Matthew shook his head almost imperceptibly.

“Sorry, James,” Marcus said. “Matthew and I were planning on sitting with my cousin David and his friends. Some other time.” 

“Remus?”

Remus hesitated only for a moment. If enemies were the last things he needed at school, friends were second to last. The closer he got to someone, the greater the risk that they would figure out his secret. However, this wasn’t about James wanting to be friends with him; this was about James wanting to be friends with Sirius. And if a werewolf wouldn’t strike a blow for tolerance, who would?

“Sure, I’ll sit with you.”

James grinned from ear to ear. “Peter?”

“Um—” Peter looked nervously from James to his other dorm mates.

“C’mon, Peter,” James urged. “You liked Sirius when you partnered for Potions, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I like _Sirius_. It’s the other Slytherins I’m not so crazy about.”

“You can sit with us, Peter,” Marcus said as he and Matthew left the room.

Peter looked back at James again. “I’ll think about it,” and he too left the room.

* * * * *

Peter still hadn’t indicated his decision by the time the Gryffindor boys finished breakfast, grabbed their bags, and made their way out to the Front Hall to await the enchanted carriages. Remus suspected that Peter was waiting to see whom, and how many, Sirius brought with him. Sirius hadn’t yet come out of the Great Hall when Filch shooed James, Peter, and Remus into the next available enchanted carriage. 

“Don’t stand around here waiting for your nasty little friend. You can meet at the train station or on the train just as well as here.”

“He’s right,” Remus said as he climbed into the carriage beside Peter.

“Just one bloody time I wish he’d be on time,” James complained as he paused on the carriage step to look back at the open doorway.

“Watch your language, Potter!” Filch barked.

Peter laughed as the carriage lurched forward. “Wow, only first term and Filch knows your name already. My older brother said it took him a year and a half.”

“It’s just because he keeps catching Sirius and I out-of-bounds,” James complained as leaned his head against the carriage window. “I can’t go in his common room, and he can’t come in ours, and Pince has a fit if we’re in the library and not working, so—we’ve got no place to go.”

“It’s so sad,” Remus said in a mock-distressed tone as he nudged Peter in the ribs. “Kind of reminds me of _Romeo and Juliet_. Don’t you agree, Peter?”

“Absolutely, so sad,” Peter agreed in the same tone. “Oh Sirius, Sirius, wherefore art thou, Sirius?”

“Deny thy house and thy name, and I’ll no longer be a Gryffindor.”

James began to laugh. “You could at least let me be Romeo.”

“Unh-uh,” Remus said shaking his head. “Sirius is taller than you.”

“Only by two inches.”

“Three if you don’t count the spikes,” Peter laughed.

“I’m taller than you,” James countered.

“Well _that’s_ an easy shot. Everyone’s taller than me,” Peter sighed with a dramatic roll of his eyes.

“There are worse things in life than being short,” Remus said as he turned to look out the carriage window. “Believe me.”

 

James had no sooner begun fidgeting nervously on the train platform when Sirius bound out of carriage without waiting for it to come to a full stop. His smile for James became even wider when he looked just behind James and saw Remus and Peter waiting. Then he looked back at his own carriage. Severus Snape stood with one foot on the step and scowled as his eyes traveled over the three Gryffindors watching him. He shook his head slightly as he stepped down and came closer.

“You _owe_ me, Sirius.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Severus fixed Remus with a glare. In his peripheral vision, Remus saw Peter take a step away from them. Remus held Severus’s gaze and smiled. “I’ll leave my wand packed away if you do.” Severus smiled back, just slightly. “Are you sitting with us, Peter?” Remus asked without breaking eye contact with Snape. He suspected that Peter might not want to back down in front of the Slytherin, at least not too obviously.

“Yeah, part of the way at least.”

“Great!” Sirius said happily. “Let’s find a compartment then.”

Snape broke eye contact as he turned toward the train and led the way into an empty compartment. He took a seat by the window and immediately pulled a book out of his bag. The meaning was clear: you can talk me into sitting with the Gryffindors, but you can’t make me socialize with them. It actually seemed like a very good plan to Remus; he took the seat opposite Snape and did the same. Sirius sat beside his house mate with James opposite—they were already rehashing the recent Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match—and Peter sat on James’s other side. He was as far from Snape as he could get in the small compartment.

Remus, engrossed in _Brimstone and Leather Wings: Living with the Dragons of Romania_ , was only dimly aware that the Quidditch conversation had shifted onto professional teams when a witch came around with the refreshment trolley.

“Sirius and I are buying,” James announced as he went to the door.

“Speak for yourself, Potter,” Sirius said, but he threw a leather bag full of coins to James as he said it. A heavy bag, judging by the sound of it.

“What does everyone want?” James asked. “Or should I just buy a little of everything?” 

“Get enough cauldron cakes for everyone,” Sirius answered, “plus a little bit of everything else.”

James and Sirius’s definition of “a little bit” was not a normal person’s. After handing an enormous stack of cauldron cakes to Peter, James came back into the compartment with an enormous armful of sweets that he dumped into Sirius’s empty seat. Sirius had gone into the corridor, unwilling to leave the sweet selection solely in James’s hands. He too returned with an enormous armload of sweets and dropped them on top of the pile where they they’d be within easy reach of all. Then he sat opposite Peter and began eating one of the cauldron cakes. Remus hated to imagine how much James and Sirius had just spent without a second thought.

“And neither of you,” Sirius said as he gestured at Severus and Remus with a half-eaten cauldron cake, “is allowed to reopen your books until we eat all of this.” Remus didn’t think it was possible, even for five eleven-year old boys, to eat that much in one train trip.

“We’ll see,’ Remus said, but he closed his book and tucked it between his bag and the wall.

“You’ll have to come up with a more interesting topic of discussion than Quidditch,” Severus said.

“More interesting than _Quidditch_?” James exclaimed in mock-outrage. “ _Nothing’s_ more interesting than Quidditch.” Sirius nodded in fervent agreement.

“We could play cards,” Peter suggested. “That is, if anyone brought any.”

“I think I did,” Sirius said as he jumped up to open his bag on the overhead rack. 

“I’m not playing with your deck again,” Severus said. “That’s the touchiest exploding deck I’ve ever seen, and I don’t want to spend my entire holiday with singed eyebrows.” Sirius sat back down with the deck already in his hand. A faint wisp of smoke curled up from the pack.

“I think I’ve got some Muggle playing cards,” Remus said as he opened his own bag. “They don’t explode.”

“Are you Muggle-born, Lupin?” Snape asked coldly. 

Remus kept looking through his bag and didn’t look up at him. He wasn’t, but his mother was, and he realized belatedly that admitting this in front of two Slytherins was almost as foolish as blurting out, “I’m a werewolf.” Simply denying that he was Muggle-born wasn’t the way to go either. To do so seemed cowardly and unfair to his classmates who were Muggle-born.

“What if he is?” James demanded angrily.

“Just curious, that’s all,” Snape replied. Remus could hear the smirk in his voice.

Remus found the cards and straightened up to face the boy again. “Do you want to use the cards or not?”

“Yeah, we do. Thanks,” Sirius said. He gave Snape a warning look out of the corner of his eye before standing up to reach for the cards with a smile. “We can play Perigee,” he said as he settled onto the floor of the compartment in front of his previous seat.

“I don’t know how to play that,” Remus admitted. 

“It’s easy,” Sirius assured him. “I’ll teach you, but you have to teach me how telephones work. They’re _so_ cool. Can you really talk to someone _anywhere_?”

“As long as he has one too,” Remus said.

James snorted. “Yeah, that’s the part that gave Sirius trouble. A few years ago, he begged his parents to give him a telephone for his birthday. Of course, it would have been kind of useless since he didn’t know anyone else with one.”

“You could have gotten one,” Sirius said as he twisted to look back at the sweets and selected a box of Every Flavour Beans and a bag of Flavour-Shifting Candy Floss. He tossed the bag to James as he turned back.

“How?” James asked. “You know the person who installs them couldn’t get anywhere near my house.”

That both surprised Remus and seemed somehow predictable as well. If the Potters’ house had Muggle-repelling charms on it, it was undoubtedly some venerable old mansion stepped in old magic and old money. It certainly explained how James could afford to buy half the sweets on the refreshment trolley without batting an eyelash.

Sirius then noticed that Remus had finished the two cauldron cakes that Peter had passed him earlier. “What do you want to eat next, Remus?”

“Could I have a chocolate frog, please?”

“Sure.” He tossed him two. “Severus?” Snape reached into the pile beside him and pulled out a green sugar quill. Peter waited until Snape had chosen something before reaching forward and selecting a buzzing box of fudge flies. “Ooh,” Sirius said with a smile as he looked at two greenish-grey beans, “never saw this colour before. Open up, Jamesy.” James dutifully opened his mouth, and Sirius tossed one bean in. James’s expression gave nothing away as he tasted it and swallowed. Sirius then tried the other bean himself. “Oh, that’s vile. You could have warned me.”

James snorted. “Never.” Sirius then proceeded to eat an entire handful of assorted beans. Remus grimaced. Even if Sirius was lucky enough to be spared any of the more unpleasant flavours in that bunch, the combination couldn’t possibly be good. And given how many unpleasant flavours a typical box of Bertie Bott’s contained, Sirius’s luck couldn’t be that good.

“Yuck,” Peter said as he watched Sirius.

“I’ll stick with chocolate,” Remus agreed as he opened a box and caught the struggling frog before it could hop away. Sirius seemed to have regretted his rash action. He swallowed the beans without too much obvious dislike, but he put the box aside and reached back into the pile for a pink sugar quill to suck on. Then he began dealing out the cards.

“O.K., in order to play Perigee, you have to deal all the cards in the deck except the last two.” As Sirius and James explained the game, stray comments made Remus realize that Peter and Severus had only recently learned the game themselves, Peter from James and Severus from Sirius. 

“I don’t feel so bad that I don’t know how to play now,” Remus commented, “if you two only recently learned.”

“Actually, Sirius’s mum and mine invented this game with some of their friends when they were in Ravenclaw together,” James explained. 

“My parents were both Ravenclaws,” Remus said as he looked through his cards and put them into an order that would help him play.

“I thought you said you were Muggle-born, Remus,” Sirius said in surprise.

“No, you assumed I was Muggle-born,” Remus said as he looked up from his cards at Sirius. Then he glanced over at Severus. The other Slytherin boy was staring at Remus with undisguised interest, trying to decide why Remus had allowed them to form their incorrect, and potentially dangerous, assumption. “You were almost right. My mum is Muggle-born, and I did go to a Muggle primary school, so yes, Sirius,” he looked back to the black-haired boy on the floor, “I can tell you all about telephones and such if you’d like.”

“Why’d you go to a Muggle primary school,” Peter asked as he sat down on the floor next to Sirius—the better to play the game and to reach the sweets.

 _“Because wizard primary schools won’t take werewolves,”_ Remus thought. “I guess my parents thought it would be a good idea. You know, so I’d be at home in both worlds.”

“Oh, that’s such a cool idea,” Sirius said. “I wish I had gone to a Muggle school. I can’t wait until we can pick electives, and I can take Muggle studies.”

“Well, I don’t see any need to be ‘at home’ in the Muggle world,” Snape said as he took his turn and put down two cards. We’re wizards, and our own world is quite enough for me.”

“But there’s so much out there to learn about,” Sirius said as he twisted around to look at his dorm mate.

“And the more we’re ‘out there’ as you put it, the more chances for the Muggles to learn about us. We’re better off apart.”

“But it’s impossible for us to remain completely apart,” James pointed out. “And if nothing else, learning a bit more about Muggles could help us fit in better when we are around Muggles.”

“We _could_ remain completely apart, if we stopped inviting Muggle-borns to attend Hogwarts. Just a thought. ” Snape stared at Remus as he said it, but failed to stare him down. 

“Your turn, Remus,” James said, allowing Remus to break the gaze and look at his cards again.

* * * * *

On Christmas Day, two unfamiliar owls knocked at the Lupins’ kitchen window while Remus and his parents were enjoying breakfast together. Each owl carried a gift-wrapped package topped by a card addressed to Remus. Remus couldn’t remember ever getting a gift from anyone other than his parents. Remus could feel his parents watching as he opened the first card with fumbling fingers. 

Dear Remus,  
Thanks for sitting with us on the Express. I’m sorry Severus was such a prick about your mum. He actually thinks you’re pretty cool, although he’d rather eat bubotuber puss than admit. He thinks anyone who knows advanced curses & hexes (or can block them) is cool. Anyway, this is just to say, “Thanks.” You already got the other half of your Christmas present (although you didn’t know it). I let James get back at Severus for you, but I really shouldn’t say how in a letter. –Sirius  
P.S. Do you have a car? Do you know how it works?

Remus grinned while reading the card, but did not share any of it with his undoubtedly curious parents. He looked at Sirius’s present, but decided to open the other card instead. He was now reasonably sure it was from James.

Dear Remus,  
Thank you again for sitting with me on the train. I’m really glad that you and Peter don’t mind me being friends with Sirius. Sirius really likes you. As soon as his parents showed up at the train station, he started asking them for a telephone for Christmas. He said, “I have a friend I can call on the telephone now.”

Sorry about Snape giving you a hard time. I got him back for you. I put some time-delayed dungbombs in his bag just before he left the train. Will you sit with us again when we go back? Sirius isn’t inviting Snape to sit with us this time. 

Also, my parents are having a party for New Year’s Eve, and they said I could invite a few friends. Sirius is coming (of course) and I’ll invite Peter too. My owl will wait for a reply. His name is Ollie (not my fault—Sirius named him). Please say you’ll come. The Floo address is “South Wing of Marid Hall.” –James

Remus’s face fell as he read the last paragraph. For a few moments he had allowed himself to enjoy having friends. Then reality intruded. Friends were for other people, normal people. He closed the card and stared at the unopened gifts for a moment. 

“Is something wrong, Sweetheart?” his mother asked. She had seen the change of expression.

“No,” he lied. _“Everything is wrong. I’m wrong. I’m a freak.”_ “It’s from a boy I know from school. He invited me to a New Year’s Eve Party at his house.” It wasn’t necessary to say more. New Year’s Eve was a full moon this year.

* * * * *

Peter grinned as he reread the parchment that was his one of his older brother’s Christmas gifts to him. “In the sixth floor corridor, behind a tapestry of St. George charming a dragon, there is an invisible door. Put your hand on the wall and say, ‘Draco titillandus,’ and a door will appear. You’ll find a secret room that neither Filch nor the teachers knows about. It’s yours for the next seven years. Use it well!” 

Now Peter knew how to repay James and Sirius for the boxes of sweets they had sent him for Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Canine Poultice Potion was invented by the Wolfie Twins for their story _Call of the Wild_ , a fabulous “Remus’s lost years” fic.
> 
> New Year's Eve 1971 really was a full moon.


	2. Guarding the Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up until now, I’d avoided doing a “how Remus’s friends found out he was a werewolf” story since there were already some out there that I liked enough to consider pseudo-canon. However, since this story doesn’t go with my other stories anyway—and since this is a “how MWPP became friends” story, it just seemed required.

Remus knew that he shouldn’t ride back to school in the same train compartment as James, Sirius, and Peter. He really shouldn’t. They were trying to be friends with him, and friends were a luxury he couldn’t afford. _“Besides, it isn’t like we’d really be friends, anyway. They’d be friends with an illusion, with the person they think I am, not who I really am.”_

On the other hand, Remus couldn’t see a way out of it without appearing to disapprove of Sirius’s presence in the compartment. _“They kicked Snape out because of how he acted toward me. If I refuse to sit with them too, it just wouldn’t be fair to Sirius.”_

In the end, he came to three decisions. First, since the train he and his mother were taking to Kings Cross Station would get them there quite early, he would board the Hogwarts Express as early as he could. It would then be up to the others—and chance—to find him. Second, if the others did find him and sit with him, he would interact with them only enough to be polite, but no more. That actually wouldn’t be difficult. With the full moon just two nights before, he’d probably have trouble keeping his eyes open on the swaying train. The last resolution was one that Remus was determined to keep. Once they got back to school, he would redouble his efforts to keep to himself. James had Sirius for a friend, and now he had Peter to be his friend within Gryffindor. Remus wasn’t needed; he could continue as before.

As he awaited the Hogwarts Express’s departure at eleven o’clock, Remus tried to lose himself in a book. It wasn’t working very well. In spite of his resolutions, he kept looking out of the compartment window for his would-be friends. Finally, at five of eleven, he heard laughter and a shout of “I’ll get you for that, Potter!” He looked out of the window in time to see Sirius hug one of two women standing side by side and then dash onto the train. Remus tried to feel relieved that he was boarding at the far end of the train. His relief was short-lived. Another voice, a panicked voice, nearer to his compartment caught his attention.

“I didn’t _do_ it! I swear!” It sounded like Peter. Remus slid his compartment door open and peeked into the corridor. Peter stood not far away with his back to Remus. He was facing a very angry Severus Snape. 

“One of you damn Gryffindors did it, and I don’t much care which,” Snape snarled. Snape had Evan Rosier with him, but Peter was alone. Remus stepped out into the narrow corridor and took his place at Peter’s side. 

“Mind if I join in?” he asked. “Two against one isn’t quite fair.”

“He thinks I put dung bombs in his bag,” Peter said nervously. “But I didn’t.”

“I know you didn’t, Peter,” Remus reassured him. He noticed a slight movement of Snape’s arm; he was pulling his wand from his robe pocket. Remus did the same.

“Oh, and how do you ‘know’ Pettigrew didn’t do it?” Snape asked. “Did you?”

Remus shrugged. “Maybe, or perhaps it was done on my behalf. It’s pretty much the same thing, isn’t it?” With a sudden movement, Snape raised and aimed his wand, but the movement wasn’t swift enough. Remus was aiming directly between his eyes. “We don’t want to go through this again, do we, Severus? If anything in your bag was ruined, I’ll pay for it.”

Snape hesitated a moment and then lowered his wand. “This isn’t over.” He turned away sharply and headed toward the front of the train. Rosier sneered at Peter for a moment before following. Remus waited until the doors between the cars closed before he lowered his wand.

“C’mon, Peter,” Remus said as he turned back toward his compartment. “Do you want to come sit in here with me? It might not be a good idea for either of us to wander around the train right now.”

“Yeah, I was looking for you and James and Sirius. Do you know where they are?”

“I saw them board near the back just before I heard your voice in the corridor. Maybe they’ll find us, or—” The train suddenly lurched forward and began its journey. “Or maybe they’ll sit down since the train started.”

Peter sat silently for moment, staring at the door and fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket. “Do you think it’s safe here? I mean there are _a lot_ of Slytherins in the car just ahead, and Snape is pretty pissed about that stupid dung bomb you put in his bag.” 

“Just between us, James did that, but he did it because of the stuff Snape said about my mum and Muggle-borns in general.”

“Oh.”

“And if it will make you feel safer—” Remus pulled his wand out of his pocket for the second time and went to the door. He concentrated on one of the locking spells his father had taught him to use on the nights of the full moon—not that his parents entrusted him to perform them himself—and gestured to the four corners of the door to weave a spell to lock the door securely. “They might know how to undo that locking spell, but they probably don’t.”

The locking spell only partially reassured Peter. Although Remus tried to hold his attention by asking extensive questions about his holiday, Peter kept glancing at the door to ensure that the Slytherins weren’t about to break in. When Sirius and James suddenly appeared in the window and rattled the door, Peter squeaked and jumped in fright.

Remus pulled out his wand in order to release the locking spell, but waited when he saw that James wanted a go at unlocking it himself. 

“Alohomora,” James tried. Then, “Disengio.” He looked at Sirius, who shrugged, and then he looked in at Remus and Peter. “We give up. Can we come in?” Remus reversed the wand movement that had set the spell, and the door unlatched with a click.

“Cool spell,” Sirius said as he flopped onto the seat beside Remus. “Don’t teach it to my mum or I’ll never be able to sneak a peak at my Christmas and birthday presents again. You weren’t trying to keep us out were you?”

“No,” Peter answered with a fervent shake of his head. “We were keeping out the—uh—” He stumbled to stop as he realized that he was about to tell a Slytherin that they were keeping out the Slytherins.

“We were keeping out Snape,” Remus explained. “He’s really angry about James’s little Christmas gift,”—Sirius and James got matching devilish grins—“and he tried to take it out on Peter. I thought a locking spell might help keep everyone apart until either tempers cool or we get to school.”

“Are you O.K., Peter?” James asked quickly. His eyes raked up and down Peter swiftly as if checking for injuries or hexes.

“Yeah, thanks to Remus.”

“Well, I’m going to have a pleasant time of it in the dormitory tonight,” Sirius said sardonically. 

“Sorry,” James said.

Sirius dismissed the apology with a wave of the hand. “I let you do it. He deserved it. If he hadn’t, I would’ve stopped you.”

“But you’re expected to stop it from happening to a housemate whether he deserves it or not, aren’t you?” Remus observed.

“Like I said, I’m going to have an interesting night.”

* * * * *

James glanced at his watch yet again. “O.K., gents,” he announced to Peter and Remus. “It’s time to go meet Sirius and then onto Peter’s big surprise.” Peter tucked his Charms homework into his textbook and hopped off his bed. Remus, on the other hand continued to work as he lay facedown on his bed. 

“Aren’t you coming, Remus?” Peter asked. 

Remus looked up in surprise. “I thought you said this was a present for James and Sirius.”

“It is, but we want you to come too.”

“C’mon, Remus,” James urged. “Peter’s been saying for three days that I’ll really like this. We want you to see it too.”

“I don’t know. It might be better if I just stay here.”

“Still aren’t feeling well yet?” James asked. Remus hadn’t looked well on the train; he had been pale and had had dark circles under his eyes. Due to their late night on New Year’s Eve, they had all taken naps on the train, but Remus had slept the longest, almost the entire trip. While he slept, the other three had all agreed that Peter’s surprise—whatever it was—would have to wait an evening or two until Remus felt well enough to come with them.

“I feel fine!” Remus insisted. His eyes grew wide and frightened. “I never said I was sick. I—I just have a lot of homework to do.” James and Peter glanced at each other. They all had the same classes; they all had the same homework. James was already done his, and Peter was almost done.

“Would you rather wait until tomorrow night, or the weekend?” James asked.

“No, you guys go without me,” Remus said as he returned to work. “Sirius will be waiting for you.”

James watched Remus’s head bent over a textbook for a moment and tried to figure out the real reason why Remus refused to accompany them. He couldn’t really have that much homework, he claimed he wasn’t sick (although he claimed that a bit too vehemently), and he wasn’t afraid of being caught out after curfew (they still had two hours until then). He felt Peter pluck at his sleeve, nodded, and followed the shorter boy down the stairs.

James felt many pairs of eyes watching him as they passed through the common room, but he was spared the hissing and snide comments that often accompanied his visits to Sirius. He presumed that Peter’s presence with him was the reason. When James left alone, everyone could guess where he was going. When he left with another Gryffindor, it seemed less likely.

“We’re meeting Sirius outside the library, right?” Peter asked as he headed in that direction. 

“Yeah, he said that he’d get some work done until it was time to meet us.” Although Sirius had not said so, James suspected that Sirius was finding it even more difficult to leave his common room for meetings than James was. Sirius had probably decided to go to the library to satisfy the curiosity of anyone inordinately interested in his comings and goings.

“Why do think Remus wouldn’t come?” Peter asked, giving voice to the thoughts in James’s head.

“No idea.” James thought for a moment longer. “Was Remus’s mum with him at Kings Cross Station?”

“No. I mean, I didn’t see her. He was already on board the train when I found him. Why?”

“I was just wondering if her illness has gotten worse. Maybe he’s really worried about her.”

Peter glanced over at James with wide eyes. “You don’t think she’s—you know— _dying_ , do you?” 

James didn’t answer. He wanted to say, “No, of course not,” but he wasn’t quite that confident. It would explain a lot of things: why Remus was permitted to go home to visit her regularly, why he was so touchy when accused of being ill, and why he was reluctant to leave the dormitory, the place where word could reach him if—

“My mum drives me up a wall sometimes,” Peter continued, “but if she—poor Remus.”

“Poor Remus what?” Sirius asked from behind them. James and Peter whirled around just as Sirius stepped out from behind a suit of armour. “And where is he?”

“If you’re trying to scare me, Black, you’ll have to try harder than that.”

Sirius grinned as he picked up the bookbag beside the suit of armour. “Trust me, Potter, if I had been trying to scare you, you would have pissed your pants.” James and Peter grinned at the memory deliberately evoked. “I was just waiting for you, and one of the Slytherin prefects came by, and I thought it might be a good idea to find a comfy seat out of sight. Now what were you saying about Remus?”

“He didn’t want to come, and we were just trying to figure out why,” James said.

“We think his mum might be _dying_ ,” Peter whispered the last word, as if saying it too loudly would make it come true.

“Oh, that sucks.” 

“We’re just guessing,” James pointed out. “We just know that he refused to come with us. Now, where are we going, Peter?” 

“The sixth floor corridor, I think,” Peter said as he pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket and consulted it. “Yeah, sixth floor.”

 

“Draco titillandus,” Peter said solemnly. The stones under his hand shimmered and darkened to a deep bronze. The bronze colour spread outward to form a large door. Peter grinned back at the other two before turning the doorknob that had appeared near his hip. Inside the room, candles in sconces lit themselves as the door opened. Peter stepped back to allow James and Sirius an unimpeded view. “Go on in.”

Sirius stepped in first, closely followed by James. They continued into the centre of the room before slowly turning and looking around. The room had the peculiar appearance of a classroom turned into a sitting room. A blackboard covered most of one wall and a few desks were pushed up along another. A moth eaten Persian carpet covered most of the floor, and numerous sofas, small tables, and armchairs sat here and there. Most of the upholstery was yellow with black stripes, or checks, or dots. A yellow banner with a black badger rampant hung over the fireplace.

“Does this room belong to the Hufflepuffs?” Sirius asked. 

“It used to, sort of,” Peter replied. “My older brother and his two best friends used it at their private place when they here. They were Hufflepuffs. But Andrew said that it’s mine now—ours now. That is, if you like it. You _did_ say that you wished you had a place where you two could hang out together. _Do_ you like it?”

James could hear the note of pleading in Peter’s voice, the appeal for acceptance. “Wow, Peter. You said I’d like this surprise, but—Wow! This is even better than, than—anything!” He grinned at Peter, and Peter grinned back.

“No one else knows about this? This is—SO—COOL!” Sirius enthused as began to roam around the room, looking up the chimney, opening up the drawers of tables, settling into one chair and then another. “Once we learn enough transfiguration, though, we’re redecorating.”

James put his arm around Peter’s shoulders and stared down at Sirius sternly. “We won’t object to some green and silver in here, but NO snakes. Right, Peter?”

“Definitely not. Nasty things.”

Although he was sitting, Sirius did his best to appear as if he were looking down at the two boys standing before him. “Snakes are an ancient symbol of learning and wisdom,” he said haughtily.

“They’re also cold-blooded and creepy,” James said.

* * * * *

Remus had tried to allow things to go back to the way they were during first term; he really had. Unfortunately, Peter, James, and even Sirius wouldn’t cooperate. They decided that Remus was someone they wanted to be friends with, and wouldn’t accept being “polite acquaintances” as an acceptable substitute. 

When Peter had first become Remus’s shadow between classes, Remus had hoped that it was temporary. Snape and Rosier had given Peter a fright on the train, and Remus had rescued him. Remus thought that Peter might just be afraid to walk in the hallways alone. But as the weeks stretched on, and Snape refrained from even saying, “Boo!” to Peter, Remus could no longer explain away Peter’s presence at his side as a desire for a bodyguard. Peter desired a friend. Remus understood that desire all too well. He realized that it wouldn’t be fair to begrudge Peter his friendship. Within Gryffindor, Marcus and Matthew had become best friends almost immediately. James had his interhouse friendship. And that left Remus and Peter. If Remus kept to himself, two of them would be denied a friend.

James and Sirius also demonstrated great affection for their two new friends. Remus and Peter were not ideal Potions partners. Remus made mistakes as often as he got his concoctions correct. Peter could hold his own and follow directions, but he didn’t understand the underlying theories well enough to correct a potion that Remus had bungled. When James and Sirius insisted on partnering Peter and Remus respectively, Remus _knew_ that the other boys had claimed them as friends. Nothing less could have induced the two black-haired boys to sacrifice partnering each other in Potions.

The advantages of having friends were clear. With Sirius as his Potions partner, Remus’s grades in that subject improved substantially. James kept scrupulously careful notes in all the classes Remus missed after the full moons and taught him all the spells that he had missed in those lessons. Most intangible, but most important, Remus felt less alone. Remus had not realized that he had been lonely until he wasn’t anymore. Everything in his life seemed somehow brighter and more fun.

The disadvantage was equally clear. The closer he became with the other three boys, the more curious they were bound to be about his disappearances. After he “went home” at the end of January, they were so solicitous about his mother’s health that he realized he had to tone down the sick mother story before they started planning her funeral. In February, an outbreak of flu running through the school gave him the idea to pretend he had the same and that he needed to go to the hospital wing. That had not been an ideal excuse either. James and Peter had shown up in the hospital wing to visit him, and Madam Pomfrey had to shoo them away by saying that Remus was too contagious to have visitors.

* * * * *

“I think I forgot my gloves,” Peter said as he searched through his bag. 

“Too late to go back for them now,” Remus noted. “We’re almost to the greenhouse. Besides, Professor Artemisia has a few extra pairs. You can just borrow some.”

“They’re too big, and they have holes in them.”

“Should I try summoning them for you?” James asked from the other side of Peter.

“NO!” Remus and Peter exclaimed together. Although it was only March, James and Sirius had already mastered all the charms that first-years were expected to learn. Now they were challenging each other to learn various more advanced charms. James’s most recent attempt at the summoning charm, trying to pull a textbook across a library table, had resulted in an entire bookcase’s worth of books flying at them. He was due to serve his detention with Madam Pince that evening.

As the Ravenclaws walking just ahead of them opened the greenhouse door, warm scent-laden air wafted out over them all. James took a deep breath. The scents of flowers and compost reminded him of the greenhouse at home. Peter followed the Ravenclaws in, and James was about to go in as well. Remus, on the other hand, backed away from the door and bumped into Lily and Susannah.

“Ow! You stepped on my toe.”

“Watch it, Remus.”

“Sorry,” Remus murmured to the girls.

“Is something wrong, Remus?” James asked.

“No, it’s just—” Remus looked about nervously, and James got the sudden impression that he should grab hold of the elusive boy’s sleeve before he could escape. Instead, he stood very still and waited. Another group of students went in and for a moment, they were alone. “Could you ask Professor Artemisia to step out here? I need to speak to her privately.”

James nodded and went inside. Professor Artemisia was directing two enchanted brooms that were cleaning up after the previous class, second-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. When James delivered his message, she behaved very oddly. Instead of going outside, she slapped her forehead with a gloved hand—getting dirt in her hair in the process—and saying, “Oh, I’m so forgetful. Potter, Pettigrew, Twiggle, O’Connor, Patil, Ulfin, and Longstreth, front and center.” When the seven boys all drew near, she pointed at some pots with tall dark-green plants in them. “These pots need to be returned to Greenhouse Two immediately. Please each grab two, go through that side door, and hurry back when you’re done. We have a lot to do today.”

As he carried the pots, James thought the plant looked familiar, but couldn’t be certain without seeing the flowers. “Does anyone know what these are?” He asked the other boys.

“I’m pretty sure it’s wolfsbane,” one of the Ravenclaws answered. “If it was in bloom, I’d know for sure.”

When they returned, Remus was sitting at the table he usually shared with James and Peter. He didn’t offer an explanation of his earlier behaviour, nor did James ask.

* * * * *

More than once, Sirius had told James that he was “a lucky bastard,” and his detention seemed to prove it once again. Of all the sections of the library that Madam Pince could have assigned him to dust during his detention, she had chosen the Herbology section. James glanced around to ensure that the sharp-eyed librarian wasn’t watching before he pulled _The Illustrated Guide to Magical Plants_ off the shelf and opened it. He flipped through a few pages to find wolfsbane. The illustration was an exact match for the plant he had carried out of Greenhouse One today. He began to read. 

“Wolfsbane (Aconitum) Also known as Monkshood. This magical plant is known to Muggles who grow it for the bell-shaped blue flowers. Wolfsbane is used in several potions, both medicinal and poisonous. It’s best-known use, however, is to repel werewolves. Although to humans, the flowers have only a faint scent and the foliage has no scent at all, to werewolves, the plant has a very strong scent. Werewolves, whether in their wolf form or their human form, seem to find it impossible to approach this plant closely. Both the foliage and the flowers seem equally able to repel the monsters. Both fresh and dried wolfsbane seem to work, but fresh seems to be slightly more efficacious than dried.”

James didn’t know what he had hoped to learn. He already knew that wolfsbane repelled werewolves. _“Everyone knows that,”_ James thought. Perhaps he had hoped to discover that many people were highly allergic to it. _“Remus could have severe hay fever or something, but I guess the plant would need to be in bloom. Which means either sending the wolfsbane out of the greenhouse was completely unrelated to the way Remus acted, or Remus is a werewolf. And if you think that, Potter, you’ve finally gone completely around the bend.”_ Everything James had ever learned about werewolves—they were vicious, dangerous, and violent—did not match the quiet, calm, introverted boy who shared his dormitory.

“Someday, I’ll tell Remus about the day I thought he was a werewolf and we’ll both laugh,” James decided.

* * * * *

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Sirius babbled as he jogged alongside the stretcher carrying James. The first Quidditch scrimmage between the Slytherin and Gryffindor first-year flying classes had come to an abrupt end when James’s leg had been broken and Mr. Parkin, the flying and Quidditch teacher, had to conjure a stretcher to take him to the hospital wing. The other students were ordered to stay out of the air and return to their common rooms, but Sirius insisted on accompanying James. 

“Shut up, Sirius. It’s my own fault.”

“But I’m the one who hit the damn bludger at you.”

“Watch your language, Mr. Black, or Madam Pomfrey won’t let you set foot in the hospital wing,” Mr. Parkin warned.

“You were _supposed_ to hit it at me. I should’ve gotten out of the way.” James winced as the floating stretcher tilted to go up the stairs into the school. 

“I know. It’s just—I’m not used to being on a different team than you.” 

“Get used to it, Snake-boy.” James said quietly. He was now quite pale and had not reopened his eyes since entering the school. Sirius decided to stay silent and spare James the need to reply.

Madam Pomfrey bustled over as Mr. Parkin positioned the stretcher over an empty bed. As Mr. Parkin explained that James’s leg had been broken by a bludger, she looked very deliberately at Sirius. Sirius realized that he was still clutching his beater’s bat and tried to hide it behind his back. 

Madam Pomfrey tsked and tutted as she examined James’s leg. “A compound fracture. That complicates things a bit. I’m afraid you’ll be in here until tomorrow, Mr. Potter, but you’ll be back in classes on Monday.” 

Sirius edged away from them. James and he had gotten their share of injuries in their childhood. No matter how crooked the break or how gory or the wound, Sirius found it “interesting” if it was his own, but hated seeing it if it was James’s—especially if it was his fault (and it usually was). He wandered over to the window and looked out. He could see just little bit of the lake from here. It looked grey under the cloudy late April sky, but Sirius could already imagine it sparkling and blue. 

“Madam Pomfrey?” a voice called from a curtained bed. Sirius glanced over and saw her disappear into her potions pantry. He decided to lend a hand and see what the ill student needed.

“Madam Pomfrey is kind of busy right—” His explanation died on his lips as he stepped around the curtained partition and saw Remus lying in the bed. He was pale with dark hollows around his eyes, his hands were bandaged, and he seemed just as surprised to see Sirius as Sirius was to see him. “What are you doing here? James said you went home for the weekend.”

“Um—I was supposed to, but—where’s Madam Pomfrey?” Remus’s eyes were wide and darting around as if searching for a rescuer or a way to escape.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You needed something, right? She’s taking care of James right now. I broke his leg.” Sirius gestured a swing with the bat by way of explanation. “Is there anything I can do, or should I get Pomfrey for you?”

“I—I just woke up, and I was thirsty,” Remus explained as looked at the bedside table holding a glass and a pitcher of water. He gestured helplessly with his bandaged hands. “I can manage holding the glass, but I can’t pour.” Sirius poured a glass half full and held it just in front of Remus so he could more easily hold it between his hands. Remus drank it all and Sirius took back the glass to pour more. 

“Did you burn your hands?” he asked when Remus had finally drunk his fill and allowed Sirius to put the glass back on the table. When Sirius was a toddler, he had tried to Floo using sugar instead of Floo Powder. His parents said that he had to wear bandages for a few days so a magical salve could heal his legs without leaving scars. 

Remus blinked and then nodded. “Yeah, just before I was supposed to go home. I burned my hands and that’s why I stayed here.” 

“We would have visited you if we knew you were here.” 

“That’s O.K. I’m used to being alone.”

“Well James isn’t used to it. Maybe when Pomfrey’s done patching him up, she’ll let you move into the bed next to him. He’ll go mad without someone to talk to.”

“That’s funny,” Remus said with a smile, his first smile since Sirius had come over. “I thought _you_ were the one with the need to talk incessantly.”

The curtains were suddenly pulled back revealing a rather annoyed matron. “Mr. Black,” Madam Pomfrey said sternly, “in this hospital, curtains are generally an indication that a patient requires privacy. I’ll thank you NOT to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Sirius hopped up from his chair. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I gave Mr. Potter a sleeping potion before resetting his leg. You may return after supper to visit your friend.”

“Yes ma’am. See you after supper, Remus!” He gave Remus a quick wave as he slipped between the partitions and ran for the door out of the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey took a seat in the chair and smiled at her favourite patient.

“I _meant_ that he could visit James, but it seems that Sirius considers _you_ one of his friends, Remus,” she observed.

Remus groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow. “Yeah, but for how much longer? Sirius and James are too smart not to figure it out.”


	3. Wolf Cub in the Lions' Den"

“Hurry up, Remus! I’m hungry enough to eat a hippogriff, feathers and all,” Sirius urged as the two boys finished cleaning up at the end of Potions class. They were the last two to leave the classroom due to their potion boiling over when Remus added a bit too much milkweed fluff.

“I’m coming,” Remus replied as he locked away his supplies in his cupboard. Sirius was bouncing on the balls of his feet near the doorway, but he waited for his friend to draw near before actually leaving the classroom. Their timing left much to be desired. The Slytherin fourth-year boys were just passing the dungeon classroom on their own way to lunch.

“Look what we have here, Gentlemen,” said Sutherland, a tall boy with his long brown hair tied back in a tail. “It’s our wayward first-year and one of his Gryffindor boyfriends.”  
“Not _just_ one of his Gryffindor boyfriends,” replied a dark-skinned boy. Sirius thought his name was Addison. “It’s the dirty little half-blood.” As he spoke, the five fourth-years spread out to surround the two smaller boys.

Two thoughts ran simultaneously through Sirius’s mind: _“Protect Remus,”_ although he had no idea how to do that, and, _“Kill Severus for telling people that Remus’s mum is Muggle-born.”_

“Get out of our way, _please_ ,” Remus said firmly. “We’re on our way to lunch, and I don’t want any trouble.” Sirius marvelled inwardly that Remus could pretend to be so calm. Remus was too smart not to realize that he was in danger.

“What you _want_ , you dirty little abomination, and what we want appear to be two different things,” Sutherland said. Sirius knew from previous observation that Sutherland was the de facto leader of his dorm mates. “ _We_ want you to stop hanging around with your betters, and if Black won’t tell you to get lost, we’ll have to deliver the message for him.” Sutherland nodded at the others, “Take them,” and both first-year boys suddenly found their arms pinned behind their backs by two older boys each. 

A rough hand groped for Sirius’s pocket and took his wand. Sutherland turned on his heel and led the way deeper into the dungeons. Sirius was pushed forward, and although he tried to stand his ground, he was out-muscled by the two larger boys. Behind him, he heard the sounds of a sudden scuffle and the sickening crack of a skull hitting stone. 

“Not in the corridor, you idi—” Sutherland hissed as he turned back at the sound, but his eyes grew wide as the words died on his lips. One of the older boys holding Sirius’s arms—Sirius thought his name was Serrault— twisted to look back over his shoulder and then suddenly let go to scramble back against the wall. Addison relaxed his hold as well, and Sirius was able to look back. Remus held one of attackers pinned against the wall, one hand clutching his throat tightly enough that the boy was turning purple. Two wands were in his other hand, aimed beyond Sirius at Sutherland. Remus’s eyes were narrowed as he glared at Sutherland. When they flicked to Addison, he immediately released Sirius and stepped back. Sirius didn’t blame him a bit; he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that glare. Sutherland ran the instant Remus wasn’t focused on him, and Addison ran in the other direction when Remus looked toward Sutherland again. 

The boy Remus was holding, Katz, seemed about to lose consciousness. “Let him go, Remus,” Sirius said quietly. “It’s safe now.” Remus released his grip and watched as Katz fell to his knees gasping for air and coughing. Remus’s eyes slowly moved from the gasping boy, to the one unconscious on the floor behind him, to the frightened one flattened against the opposite wall, and finally to Sirius. It was only when he looked at Sirius that his eyes grew fearful. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He bolted toward the stairs, still clutching the two wands, his bookbag forgotten on the floor behind him.

Sirius quickly checked on the condition of the boy on the floor. His hair was matted with blood from a wound on the back of his head, but he was breathing. “Take him to the hospital wing,” he ordered Serrault. Sirius himself put his arm under Katz’s shoulders and helped him to his feet. “Tell Madam Pomfrey any story you want but keep my friend’s name out of it—unless you want everyone to know that you all got your asses whipped by a half-blood first-year. Oh, and give me back my damn wand.” 

Sirius was reasonably certain that the threat of humiliation of would keep them from accusing Remus of attacking them, and if it didn’t, house loyalties be damned, Sirius would tell the truth. He’d also tell the truth if Remus wanted to go to the teachers, but somehow he had the impression that Remus would not. Sirius would probably be spared choosing between standing with his friend and standing with his house—this time at least.

By the time Sirius and Serrault had delivered the two injured students to the hospital wing, lunch period was almost over. Wanting to check on Remus, Sirius ran to the Great Hall faster than he would have dared if he wasn’t reasonably certain all the teachers were at lunch. The last stragglers, including James and Peter, were just coming out when Sirius reached the Hall. 

“How’s Remus?” Sirius managed to gasp out before dropping two bookbags, his own and Remus’s, on the floor and leaning forward, hands on his knees, panting for breath.

“What do you mean, ‘How’s Remus?’ He was with you the last time we saw him. And why didn’t either of you make it to lunch?” James demanded.

“Bloody hell,” Sirius muttered. He straightened up to face them. “We had a little run in with some of my housemates when we were leaving Potions.”

“Snape?” Peter asked.

“What’d they do to Remus?” James asked simultaneously.

Sirius shook his head. “Fourth-years, and they didn’t hurt him.” Sirius glanced around at the other students, some of whom weren’t too discrete in their eavesdropping. “Look, I can’t give you details now, but Remus was really upset. He’s _fine_ , but he’s upset. When you see him, tell him I’m sorry. And _try_ to get him to come to our room tonight. I want to apologize in person. I’ve got to go to Defence.”

* * * * *

Sirius was already waiting when James arrived at the secret room after dinner. Sirius jumped to his feet and watched hopefully as James came in, but his face fell when James shook his head and closed the door. 

“He isn’t speaking to me, is he?” Sirius sank back down onto the sofa and raked his fingers of one hand through his hair. “Damn bloody Sutherland. Damn bloody Addison. Damn bloody Snape.”

“He never showed up at afternoon classes and he isn’t in Gryffindor Tower either. Peter stayed in the common room in case he comes back,” James explained. “And I thought you said Snape wasn’t there.”

“He wasn’t. Long story.” Sirius dismissed the unimportant details with a shake of his head. “Where could Remus be?”

“I don’t _know_ ,” James said in an annoyed voice. “We’ve been worried all afternoon. What _happened_?”

“Five fourth-years jumped us—bad timing, not planned—and they started saying he shouldn’t hang out with me, and called him ‘a dirty little half-blood’ and ‘an abomination,’ and they started dragging us off somewhere, and—God, James, I don’t know what—” Sirius raked both hands through his hair and kept his head bowed, black tufts of hair between pale fingers at the nape of his neck. When he spoke again, it was nearly a whisper. “They were going to hurt him and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.”

For twelve-year-old boys, the unwritten rule was clear: Physical contact must always be very brief and/or be disguised as roughhousing. But some situations just begged for an exception to the “No Touching” rule. James hadn’t spent most of his life being Sirius Black’s best friend without learning that he cared more for his friends’ well being than his own. A failure to protect a friend would have pained him indeed. James put a comforting arm around his friend’s shoulders. 

“Who saved him?” James asked when Sirius didn’t volunteer the information.

“ _He_ did.” Sirius looked up now with a grin on his face. “You should have seen it, James! He knocked one of them out—Pomfrey said he had a concussion—and he had another by the throat, and—” 

The candles suddenly guttered in a draft, and Sirius’s eyes were drawn to the door again. Remus slipped in quietly, watching his friends warily. He allowed the door to close but stayed near it.

“Are they O.K.?” he asked.

“Who?” Sirius asked in confusion.

“The people I hurt when I lost control. Are they going to be O.K.?”

“They’re fine, not that they deserve to be. Are _you_ O.K.?”

Remus nodded. He pulled a wand out of his pocket and tossed it to Sirius. “This belongs to one of them.” He shifted his gaze to James. “Has McGonagall or Dumbledore come looking for me yet?”

“No,” James said. His brow wrinkled in confusion. “Why?”

Remus nodded sadly. “They will. He started to turn for the door, but paused, his eyes fixed on the doorknob. “In case I don’t get another chance to tell you before I have to go, I just wanted to thank you both for being my friends. It meant more to me than you know.”

“What are you talking about?” Sirius jumped off the sofa and grabbed Remus by the sleeve just as he put his hand on the doorknob. “Where are you going? You’re talking like you got expelled or something.”

“Not yet, but I will be.” Remus kept staring at the doorknob rather than meet Sirius’s eyes.

“No way. You were defending yourself, Remus, and I _am_ willing to say so. You won’t get expelled. They might, but you won’t.”

Remus shook his head sadly. “I lost control and injured students. I proved that I’m dangerous. They can’t allow me to stay. I know they can’t.” He finally looked up at Sirius. “You don’t know the whole story, Sirius. If you did, you’d understand.”

“Of course I know the whole story! I was there, remember? No help whatsoever, but there.” Sirius sighed in confusion and looked at James for assistance.

Sirius didn’t understand, but James feared that he was beginning to. _“Lost control—proved that I’m dangerous—Remus repelled by wolfsbane but too quiet and calm to be a werewolf—unless he’s just been hiding it—he lost control—knocked out one student and had another by the throat—God, he must be strong.”_

“Let him leave, Sirius,” James said with forced calm. Remus stared into James’s eyes. _“He knows that I know,”_ James thought.

“But—”

Remus shouldered past Sirius and left the room. James’s legs suddenly turned to water and he collapsed back onto the sofa that he had been sitting on when Remus came in.

“Those students that Remus overpowered, they were bigger than him?”

“Yeah,” Sirius answered vaguely, still staring at the closed door. “They were fourth-years, why?”

“How many were holding him?”

“Two. Two holding him, two holding me, plus Sutherland giving orders.” Sirius finally abandoned his vigil at the door and sat in an armchair near James.

“He overpowered two students who were larger than him. Doesn’t that strike you as slightly odd, Sirius?”

“Maybe, but I didn’t see how it happened. They were behind me. Maybe one of them tripped or something, I don’t know.” 

“Or something,” James agreed. _“I don’t like this; I don’t like it at all. I’m actually starting to think Remus, my quiet friend Remus, is a monster. Either I’m the worst friend ever, or I’ve been a blind fool,”_ he thought. His head was starting to hurt and his stomach didn’t feel much better. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Tell me I’m wrong, Sirius.”

“You’re wrong. About what?”

James grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment out of Sirius’s bookbag. “When has Remus been absent? I need exact dates.”

“Oh gee, let my check my diary,” Sirius said in a falsetto voice as he opened an imaginary book. A quick glare from James told him that his friend was not in the mood for jokes. “Visits home or in the hospital wing?”

“Home—no, wait. That last visit home, he turned out to be in the hospital wing after all, so either one, I guess.”

“Well, like you just said, he was in the hospital when I broke your leg, and that was the last Saturday in April. And he went home to see his mum at the end of February. I remember Peter saying that morbid comment about people who are terminally ill usually dying in winter.”

“He was absent the very first weekend of September. I remember thinking that he must be severely homesick or something. And he missed the Slytherin-Ravenclaw Quidditch match. It was the weekend that everyone got angry because we sat together in Potions. Everyone kept telling me I should go sit with ‘my real house’ and cheer for them.”

“First weekend of December, I think. I can’t remember any others,” Sirius admitted. “I remember his being absent, but not when.”

“He couldn’t come to the New Year’s Party, but that may have been unrelated. Do you have a calendar with you?”

“No. Why? What are you trying to figure out?”

James found that he couldn’t put his accusation into words. It would make his distrust of his friend too real. Instead, he shared the first clue. “Remus wouldn’t go in the greenhouse when wolfsbane was in it.”

Sirius blinked and half-gasped as all the clues added up as quickly in his mind as they had in James’s. He glanced down at the list of dates written by James. “We need a calendar.”

* * * * *

Peter hurried over to James as soon as he entered the Gryffindor common room. “What’s going on?” he demanded quietly. “Remus finally showed up here, but he packed everything into his trunk and now he’s sitting on his bed with the curtains drawn, and when I asked him what was wrong, he said that you’d tell me.” 

“Do you have a calendar with the full moons marked on it?” James asked. He wanted his theory confirmed or refuted before he shared it with anyone else. 

“I _think_ my calendar has the full moons. It’s upstairs. Do you want me to get it?”

 _“Upstairs, in our dorm, where Remus is.”_ James shook his head. “May I borrow a calendar from someone?” James asked the room at large. With exams looming ever closer, it was no surprise to find many students hard at work in the common room.

“Catch,” a third-year student called before tossing an assignment book to James. 

“Thanks,” James called to him as he carried the book over to a quiet corner with a couple of empty chairs. Peter settled into the seat across from James and waited tensely while James flipped through the book to certain months and consulted notes on a piece of parchment. He still didn’t know what was going on, but he could sense James’s seriousness of purpose.

“Damn,” James muttered. “I hoped I was wrong.” He looked at Peter’s tense expression and knew it must mirror his own. “C’mon, Sirius is waiting for us in our room.” James led the way out of the portrait hole, returning the calendar as he passed. He knew that Peter had to be dying of curiosity, but to his credit, he refrained from asking any questions as they hurried to the sixth floor corridor.

They found Sirius pacing in front of the fireplace. “Well?” he demanded of James.

James felt his throat tighten as he tried to speak. He nodded. “All five dates matched. He’s—” James licked his lips. “He’s a werewolf.”

“A werewolf!” Peter exclaimed. “Who’s a werewolf?” 

Sirius nodded and began pacing again. “Listen. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while you were gone. None of the teachers know that he was in a fight, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to stay that way. We lied to Madam Pomfrey, and either she believed us, or she’s decided not to call us on the lie. None of the fourth-years want people to know that they were beaten by a first-year, so they’ll keep their mouths shut. _We_ won’t tell, so—”

“What do you mean, ‘We won’t tell’?” James said hotly. “He’s a werewolf!”

“Who?” Peter demanded again.

“Remus!” James said angrily. “Remus is a werewolf, and today he almost killed two people. He lost control of his temper, and he almost killed two students.” He glared at Sirius as he said the last.

“It was self-defence,” Sirius said just as angrily. “I was there, James, not you. He didn’t do _anything_ that wasn’t justified. Would you be happier if they had beaten him bloody? Would you be happier if _he_ were the one lying in a hospital bed?”

Just a few hours ago, when Sirius had first started to tell Peter and James about Remus’s “run-in” with some Slytherins, James had been very afraid that Remus was indeed lying injured in a hospital bed. Just a few hours ago, he had felt immense relief hearing that Remus was spared that. How could he feel differently now? 

“Of course not,” James admitted.

“But you’re willing to get him kicked out of school because he dared to defend himself.”

“Oh Merlin,” James sighed as he sank down into a chair and buried his face in his hands. “I’m so confused. Which is the _real_ Remus? The one we considered our friend, or the one who almost killed two people—in self defence,” he added hurriedly so Sirius would not.

“Let’s ask someone,” Peter said quietly. “Someone who would know.”

“Who?”

“Remus,” Sirius replied.

* * * * *

In the end, all three spent the night sleeping on the yellow sofas of their secret room. Peter didn’t want to go back to the dormitory without James, James didn’t want to go back until he knew what he’d say, and Sirius didn’t particularly want to go back to his dormitory at all. 

James had not slept well. He blamed it on the unfamiliar “bed,” but he knew that it was more than that. His conscience wasn’t too pleased with him for turning his back on Remus. Although awake, he lay with his eyes closed, waiting for Peter and Sirius to stir. It was a Saturday morning, so there was no need to rush. They had all day to speak to Remus—if he hadn’t already left. He heard the soft footfalls on the carpet at the same moment that he smelled a faint whiff of bacon. He opened his eyes to see a blurry brown-haired form placing something on the coffee table.

“Hi,” James said quietly.

“Hi,” Remus replied just as quietly. The pale blurs that were his hands disappeared into the darkness of his robe. “I was up early, and I thought you guys might want some breakfast.”

“Thanks. Could I have my glasses?”

Remus turned back to the coffee table, picked up the glasses beside the breakfast tray, and handed them to James. “I—um—I already sent my parents an owl and told them that I need to leave. I’ll be out of your dormitory before tonight.” Remus started for the door.

“Wait! We want to talk to you,” James called out as he sat up. He didn’t know what he wanted to say; he didn’t know what he felt. He just knew that he wanted to say _something_. He glanced over at the other sofas and saw that Sirius and Peter had woken up as well.

Remus sat down in one of the armchairs, but he shook his head. “There’s nothing to say,” Remus said in a hopeless tone as he stared down at the carpet. “You’re afraid of me. You spent all night here instead of our dormitory, didn’t you?”

“No, that was because—” Peter said, but he fell silent when he couldn’t think of a reason.

“Should we be afraid of you?” James asked. 

“Yes—maybe—I don’t know.” With each word, Remus’s voice became fainter as he spoke in the direction of his lap. “I try to control my temper, I really do. I have to. I’m dangerous if I don’t.” He raised his chin and a look of fierce pride crossed his face for a moment. “I almost got through the year without losing control, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t lose control,” Sirius said. He had been lying with his head propped up by his elbow, but now he sat up and put his feet on the floor. He leaned forward and stared intently into Remus’s face, trying to make Remus feel the sincerity he was putting into his words. “You protected yourself and me.”

Remus shook his head again. “That’s not how it felt.”

“No? Then let me tell you how it looked. Five students were dragging you off who-knows-where to hurt you, and you did what was necessary, and _only_ what was necessary, to subdue them. You knocked one unconscious but didn’t hurt him any more than that. You pinned another against the wall until we were out of danger, and then you immediately let him go. The three others, you didn’t hurt at all. Sutherland would happily have ordered the others to beat you up, but when you were pointing a wand at him, you allowed him run away. Trust me, I would not have shown the control and restraint that you did.”

“You don’t need to. You’re not strong enough to kill someone with your bare hands, are you?”

“It’s true?” Peter whimpered. “They said that you were a—but you’re so nice and—it’s true?”

“Yeah, Peter, I’m a werewolf.” Remus exhaled deeply as if freeing himself of the secret he had been guarding. His gaze returned to James. “The wolfsbane, right? I knew you noticed.”

James nodded. “Then last night, we checked the dates you were absent against the full moon.” James glanced over at Sirius and made his decision. Sirius may or may not have convinced Remus that he was not out of control yesterday, but he had convinced James. “I’m sorry you had to miss the New Year’s party at my house. I’ll be more careful to schedule things around the full moon from now on.”

“What?”

“Let’s face it, Remus. People who can put up with an obnoxious wanker like Sirius are few and far between. We’d be mad to stop beings friends with you.” Sirius grinned and nodded in agreement. “Peter?”

Peter’s brow was furrowed. “When’s the next full moon, Remus?” he asked. 

“A week from tomorrow. It’ll be the last one this term.”

“What happens then? I mean, do you really go home, or—”

Remus shook his head. “No, I stay here. They have someplace safe that I can go. I can’t get out when I’m a wolf, and only a few of the teachers know how to get in. Usually Madam Pomfrey goes with me. Professor McGonagall did a couple of times when Madam Pomfrey was busy. Then in the morning, Madam Pomfrey gets me and I stay in the hospital wing until I’ve recovered.”

“Recovered?”

“Well I’m pretty knackered afterward. The transformation takes a lot out of me. I feel completely drained of energy, like a wrung sponge. And I—do you really want to know any of this? Or do you just want to know that I can’t get loose and hurt someone?”

“We want to know,” Sirius said immediately. He settled down on the floor beside the food and began to eat a cold bacon sandwich.

“ _If_ you want to tell us,” James amended.

“I maul myself during the night. The wolf wants to attack someone, and I’m the only one there.” He pushed up his sleeves and revealed numerous scars, some livid and new, some faded and silvery. Now James understood why Remus had always avoided undressing in front of his dorm mates. “Madam Pomfrey’s really good at healing most of my wounds without scars, but sometimes the wounds are just too deep and she can only minimize the scarring. And a lot of these are from when I was younger. My parents had to take care of me themselves, and neither one had much experience in that area. They do now.” 

James was momentarily taken aback by Remus’s tone as he explained his scars. He said it all calmly and matter of factly, as it was the most normal thing in the world to maul oneself on a regular basis. _“For him, it is,”_ James realized. James glanced over at Sirius and saw that he had abandoned his sandwich half-eaten.

“Just how badly do you hurt yourself, Remus?” Sirius asked.

Remus smiled sardonically. “Well, I haven’t managed to kill myself—yet.”

* * * * *

Remus was half-awake as his body decided which need was greater: his thirst, or his exhaustion. Muted voices at the far end of the ward were tipping the scales in favour of waking up, and when he heard his own name, he became fully awake. He lifted his head off the pillow and turned toward the voices. One of the curtained partitions around his bed blocked his view. 

“—needs privacy and rest.”

“We won’t wake him, we just want to be here when he wakes up.”

“If Remus wants to see you after he wakes up, I’ll send for you.”

“Madam Pomfrey, I’m awake,” Remus called in a hoarse voice. His throat always hurt after the transformation. Everything always hurt after the transformation. “Could my friends visit me please?” Judging by the sounds of running feet, they had not waited for her approval. 

He struggled to sit up before they saw him. It was bad enough that the dark hollows under his eyes and cheeks, and the bandages on his arms and legs, would make him look like a partially unwrapped mummy; he didn’t need to look like a helpless invalid too.

“Here you go, Remus,” Sirius said cheerfully as he slipped one arm around Remus’s chest and pulled him up and back against the pillows that he placed upright against the headboard with his other hand. Then Sirius sat at the foot of the bed as if sharing a bed with a corpse-like dark creature was something he did every day. 

Peter sat in the chair near Remus’s bed. His worried eyes betrayed that he was concerned about Remus’s appearance. Sirius appeared unfazed, but unlike Peter and James, Sirius had seen Remus on a “day after” once before.

“How do you feel, Remus?” Peter asked worriedly.

“Fine,” Remus lied. He didn’t want to be fussed over and pitied. “Where’s James?”

“Right here,” James answered, and a moment later, he appeared in the gap between two curtains carrying a chair. James considered Remus’s appearance for a moment. “You’re right, Sirius. He does like shit on the day after a full moon.”

Peter’s mouth dropped open in shock at James’s appalling lack of proper bedside manners. Remus, on the other hand, loved it.

“I do believe my exact words were, ‘He looks like death warmed over,’” Sirius corrected.

Remus grinned. “All this flattery will go to my head.”

“What are friends for?” James said with a smile.


	4. Epilogue

“I still can’t believe you’ve never been in here before,” Sirius said, shaking his head as he looked at Harry. “This was _our room_ , and it’s definitely on the map.”

“It may be on the map, but nothing indicates that it’s anything special. I didn’t have any reason to come looking for it. The only secret room or secret passage I’ve ever used the map to find was a tunnel into Hogsmeade—and I got in quite a bit of trouble with a certain Professor for that,” Harry replied with a guilty look at the brown and grey-haired man sitting beside his godfather. 

“You made us feel _awful_ ,” Ron said to Remus, “You’re even better at guilt than my mum, and you can do it without yelling.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not your Professor anymore, isn’t it?” Remus said with slight smile. 

“You punished them for sneaking into Hogsmeade?” Sirius asked incredulously. “After all the times we did?”

“The situation was a little different,” Remus replied calmly. 

“How did you find this room?” Hermione asked suddenly. She was obviously changing the topic of conversation, but Harry didn’t mind. Given how he felt about Sirius now, and how Sirius obviously felt about him, it seemed so wrong that they had once believed that Sirius wanted to kill him. 

Remus and Sirius suddenly looked at each other. They seemed to be deciding how to reply to Hermione’s question, but Hermione didn’t wait. “I love the eclectic mix of furniture. It’s like whenever someone didn’t know where in the castle to put a stray chair or sofa, it ended up in here. But one of you decorated that sofa, right?”

Remus and Sirius were sitting on a large comfortable sofa, long enough for even someone as tall as Sirius to stretch out upon. The upholstery was black twill covered with stars and crescent moons. As soon as Sirius had entered the hidden room and changed back into human form, he had proclaimed, “It’s our sofa, Moony! It’s still here!” and he had grabbed Remus by the sleeve and pulled him to over to sit beside him on it.

“Sirius transfigured it, more than once,” Remus said, smiling again. 

“Constant improvements in search of perfection,” Sirius said.

“The stars and moons were a late addition.”

“Moony’s contribution was breaking it in. I can’t tell you how many naps he took on this damn thing. He’s probably drooled all over it.”

“Padfoot drools; I don’t.”

“Whatever you say, Moony,” Sirius with a smirk. Then he looked at Hermione again. “But I’m glad you like the ‘eclectic’ look. This room looked like a damn shrine to Hufflepuff when we inherited it, and since we weren’t Hufflepuffs, redecorating was required. That,” he gestured to a banner with the Hogwarts crest, “replaced a Hufflepuff banner, and then we changed some colours in here. We left that sofa alone,” he nodded at the sunny yellow sofa with small black dots, “in honour of the Hufflepuffs we inherited this room from, and the card table and chairs got Ravenclaw blue in honour of our mums—James put the eagle claw feet on the table—and of course Gryffindor red and some Slytherin green on other chairs and sofas so all the houses are represented.”

“You could have skipped green,” Ron said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. “It’s not like anyone would miss the Slytherins if they weren’t here.”

“Wouldn’t that be great?” Harry added. “No stuck-up, spoiled Malfoy.”

“No slimy-haired _Snape_!” Ron exclaimed with a gleam in his eye.

“No creepy dungeon-dwellers—”

“—hatching nasty, evil plots—”

“—wrapped up in smug superiority—”

Sirius had been listening to Harry and Ron’s tirade with an amused smile, but Remus was not smiling. His forehead was wrinkled in concern, and he was watching Sirius. Harry fell silent at the sight. Ron started to say more, but Hermione elbowed him into silence.

“So full—Ow!” 

“You never told him, Sirius?” Remus asked.

Sirius’s smile broadened into a full grin, and he turned to look at his old friend. “And miss this? It’s very entertaining.”

“Never told me what?” Harry asked, but he suddenly realized what he was probably about to be told. No one had ever told him which houses his parents and their friends had been in. He knew his father was in Gryffindor; Hermione had shown him his father’s name as part of the Gryffindor team from a year that they had won the Quidditch Cup. But his mother? Sirius? Remus? He had assumed they were Gryffindors, but he didn’t _know_. His mother was Muggle-born, so whatever house she had been in, it was probably not Slytherin. But about Sirius and Remus, he didn’t even know that much. “I just put my foot in my mouth, didn’t I?”

Sirius raised his eyebrows and nodded, still grinning.

“Who?” Harry asked as he glanced between his father’s two friends.

“Me.”

“Oh God, Sirius, I’m sorry. I take it all back—except the part about Malfoy.” 

Sirius and Remus both laughed at that. Sirius shook his head. “It’s O.K., kid. I’ve heard worse. When you’re friends with a bunch of Gryffindors, you have to expect them to gang up on you once in a while.”

“Only when you deserved it, Snake-boy,” Remus said.

Sirius’s smile faded as he looked at Harry intently. “I hope it doesn’t change your opinion of me, Harry,” he said.

“Actually, it’s kind of a relief.”

Sirius’s brow wrinkled in confusion. He glanced at Remus and then back at Harry. “A relief? Why?”

“It’s nice to find there can actually be a Slytherin that I like, considering—”

“Considering what?”

Harry glanced at Ron before answering. This was something he had never told either of his friends. “Considering that’s where the stupid Sorting Hat wanted to put me before I begged it not to.”

Ron stared in shock for a moment before laughing along with Sirius. “Parselmouth,” Ron muttered, shaking his head and looking at Hermione. “Creeped us out the first time we heard him talk to a snake. We should’ve known.”

_\--written March 2006_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that later canon has come out, and we've learned it was Lily and Severus with the interhouse friendship, and James and Sirius giving them a hard time over it, I find it amusing that I wrote it the opposite way. I guess that's what can happen when you write fanfic for a still-evolving canon.


End file.
